10 tips to Renew Yourself This Summer

  

  If you're like me, you may still be feeling the stress from last school year.  Yes, summer flies by so fast, but sometimes I think we as teachers hold on to things from the previous year.  We come into contact with so many people in such a short amount of time- our bosses, the kids in our class, their parents and their siblings, ALL the kids at our school, our coworkers, our family and friends, all of our social media friends, the general public, and the list goes on.  All of these interactions can leave us a little drained by summertime.  I know many of my first nights off of school are spent indulging in netflix and naps!

   I'm a big believer however in being an active participant in life.  We *need* to turn off netflix and nourish ourselves- our bodies and our minds during this important time of recuperation.  If we don't actively engage with ourselves, how can we expect our students to actively engage in the classroom once school rolls around?  We need to make a list of exactly HOW we will renew ourselves this summer.  Naps and netflix cannot be the *only* thing we do.

So Enters My Super Fabulous:

So, here's my bucket list of summer renewal activities. I encourage you to make up your own list, or steal some off of mine.  So here goes!

1.  Buy a whimsical teaching supply.  Okay, so this is kind of embarrassing, but I LOVE BIG.... pencils!!! (I know what you were thinking! tsk!) Anyways, I fell in love with big pencils when I first read The Phantom Tollbooth. There's a character in the book called the Mathemagician (he loves math, like me), and his magic wand is a giant pencil. Hehe.  Here's mine!

 

2.  Moving on, I would highly recommend reading a book to just center yourself. Early this year, I read Wherever You Go, There You Are.  I really wanted to find a book that would help me get over my own daydreams and live in the *now*.  It's about being present in every moment. As a deeply reflective introvert, I have trouble living in the now, but this book taught me some simple meditation techniques to help me do so!  I reread it all time, and I keep it on my nightstand.  

3. Go for a nightly walk and/or jog!  Did you know that lightly exercising just 20 minutes a day boosts your mood and prevents over 20 ailments!?  You probably did know that, but it's also very beneficial for your mental clarity and this time that you need to rejuvenate.  I live in rural town with bad roads and no sidewalks, so sometimes I will just make circles around my house.  It's really fun driving my husband crazy with my pedometer, and walking with purpose seems to boost my confidence as well.  

4. Journal THREE things you like about yourself everyday.  We need to bucketfill ourselves before we can expect our kids to fill one another's buckets next school year!  Just try it, and don't be humble because you know and I know that you're awesome!

5. Next up, go pretend shopping for classroom decor!  I can't even begin to explain the fun that I've had looking at schoolgirlstyle.com!   I kind of thought all classroom decor was for primary kids (I teach fifth), but now I'm discovering a whole new world of PIZZAZZ!!!  I've already bought borders galore (chalkboard, ombre, turquoise and lightbulbs).  I'm super cheap, but I've found excellent deals on reallygoodstuff.com, amazon, and paperlanternstore.com! Give it a try and design your dream classroom on paper!  It's the first step to making it a reality!

6. Download a few new aps to your phone just like one of your kids would do. DO IT JUST FOR FUN! A few days ago, I downloaded Duolingo- a free program that teaches you a 2nd language in just 20 minutes a day!  It is so fun too: I'm learning Spanish since most of my students are ELLs and most of the time I feel like I'm playing a little video game!  They also have French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Irish (?!?), Danish, Swedish, Turkish, some language I've never head of before, and Norwegian.   Search the ap store for something zany and go crazy!

7. Reconnect with an old friend or lost acquaintance!  Tonight, I randomly went on facebook and said hi to one of my old best friends.  Our intense 7 year friendship ended (dramatically), but we are still facebook friends. It wasn't the type of conversation I was expecting, but it reminded me that I'm in a great place right now.  I honor my memories, but I'm excited to keep moving forward.  I've sent several emails out this summer to touch base with people from my past.  It just feels good to reconnect sometimes.  You should give it a try!

8. Donate something to someone!  Anyone!  I like to go through my closet in the summertime and donate at least 3 bags of clothes I didn't enjoy wearing that much.  I usually give them to an old friend from high school who loves and needs my hand me downs.  Sometimes, I donate to local thrift stores or charities as well.  It feels so good to purge items I don't really need anymore. I'm always so grateful when I can give something away because I realize that I'm very fortunate to be able to share in this way.

9. Learn a new technology!  I ended up learning several this summer, but my favorite by far has been Periscope!!   I LOVE LOVE LOVE Lucky Little Learners, schroedershenanigansin2nd, and sheliajaneteaching.com!!  I also love that some big teaching icons are getting on periscope, like earlier I watched a fun broadcast from Rachel Lynette's living room!! ( http://www.minds-in-bloom.com/)
Periscope just makes it seem like we are all connected and anything is possible.  I tried 2 periscopes so far, and they were a learning experience.  During my first one, I played with my hair a lot and said "phenomenal" at least 10 times, and my 2nd one froze after 90 seconds!   I was going to do another tonight, but something distracted me!  I'm going to try and try again though, and you should too!

10. Try saying in the mirror with a smile, "I'm so excited to go back to school, I can't wait!" and hold that smile while you do it!  Imagine meeting all of your new smiling faces the first day: they probably can't wait to meet you and *figure* you out!  Feign your happiness on this activity if you have to, and it will turn into real positive thoughts eventually. If you're dreading going back, this is my best tip to flipping your mind in the right direction.

I hope my bucket list has helped you.  I already feel rejuvenated for the new school year!

Take care friends!